Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/405

How do the foreigners stand towards these movements? There is a widespread though vague impression that socialism is a phenomenon of foreign growth. We can be more specific.

The city at large gave the socialist candidate for mayor in 1913 five per cent, of the total vote. Let us take those districts in which he received over ten per cent. There are just ten such districts. Let us also put down the approximate percentage of the voters in these districts belonging to the principal nationalities. The following table gives these figures with the percentage of the vote given to the socialist candidate for mayor in 1913 and for governor in 1910:

Assembly
District

Socialist Vote

Native of
Natives

Austr.

Ger.

Irish

Italian

Russian

1910

1913

B 21

12.4

16.1

12.6

5.9

4.1

0

9.1

31.2

B 23

12.5

15.8

19.8

3.9

2.2

1.6

4.6

33.3

B 19

11.0

12.8

12.6

.8

13.6

0

9.9

11.9

M 4

12.6

11.9

7.0

25.2

.4

1.1

2.5

35.6

M 26

10.2

11.8

7.1

6.7

4.6

3.8

1.4

34.6

M 8

14.6

11.7

2.5

14.2

.7

0

4.1

54.4

M 22

13.1

11.7

10.6

4.6

21.2

5.3

1.6

3.6

M 6

10.0

11.2

2.4

30.8

1.1

.7

.7

30.4

M 24

10.4

11.2

11.1

3.9

4.3

6.2

11.1

20.6

M 10

11.1

10.8

5.9

12.5

4.7

0

13.9

22.3

It will be seen from the table, first, that the percentage of native born of native parents is less in every district than that of some foreign nationality; second, that in every district but two the percentage of Russians far exceeds that of any other nationality; third, that in those two exceptional districts it is the Germans that predominate. The Austrians should be added to the Russians, because, as said before, both Russians and Austrians in these districts are practically all Jews. Our conclusion therefore, is that the bulk of the socialist vote is derived from the foreign Jewish element, and to a much less degree from the Germans. This position is supported from the other end. The districts in which the socialists received the fewest votes, from 1 to 2 per cent., are those in which the natives, the Irish and the Italians are strongest—the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, thirteenth, fifteenth, twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh of Manhattan; and such districts as the second and third of Brooklyn.

The other branch of the question on radicalism resolves itself into this, "What voters are susceptible to influence from the Hearst newspapers?" One of the principal candidates in 1913 was bitterly opposed by these papers and a candidate of their own was nominated by the Independence League. Do the replies run to any extent along lines of national cleavage?

A study of the figures seems to justify the following observations: The districts in which the voters of native parentage are comparatively